Portable brick-handling device.



R. G. PENFIELD. PORTABLE BRICK HANDLING DEVIGB. APPLfOATION FILED 001224, 1908. v I

967,663, Patented Aug. 16, 1910.

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R. 0. PENFIELDi PORTABLE BRICK HANDLING DEVICE.

I APPLICATION TILED 00124, 1908. 9 7, 3, Patented Aug. 16, 1910.

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R. G. PENFIELD. PORTABLE BRICK HANDLING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED 00124, 1908.

967,663. Patented Aug. 16,1910.

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R. G. PENPIELD. PORTABLE BRICK HANDLING DEVICE. i APPLICATION I'ILBD 00T.24, 1908. 967,663, Patented Aug. 16,1910.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

AppIication filed October 24, 1908.

Patented Aug. 16, 1910. Serial No. 459,348.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAYMOND G. PEN- IfIELD, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Brick-Handling Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My present invention refers to a portable device for transporting bricks and other masses of material in bulk consisting of independent detached regular blocks from one place to another. i

The object is to provide simple and efficient locomotive mechanism provided with grippingmeans for laying hold of a mass of brick which has been set with its individual members in a pre-arranged order and lifting the same from the ground or floor on which it is set so as to carry it to a kiln or to a place of storage or elsewhere as may be desired.

The invention consists essentially in trans? porting and lifting mechanism combined and arranged to produce the result in view, and in various details and peculiarities in the construction and combination, substantially as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a rear elevation of my improved portable device for transporting bricks and other masses of material. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a top plan view. Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional detail of one of the clamping devices. Fig. 5 is a sec tional side elevation of a modified form of the invention. "Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the eccentric device belonging to the latter form.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the different figures of the drawing.

The truck or portable device to which this invention relates is intended for use with a stack formation of bricks, which stack for mation is built with the members of the basic layer spaced apart at uniform orsubstantially uniform distances, so that lifting means may be inserted between the members of the basic layer for the purpose of raising the mass and gripping the members of the basic layer at the same time so as to enable the latter to be raised with theupper mass.

In Figs. 2 and 5 I have shown at A a stack of bricks hacked up in the manner stated with the members of the basic layer spaced apart.

The truck or portable device is preferably of the hand variety, and a part of the general framework thereof is of the kind commonly employed in handling goods of various kinds in warehouses, freight sheds, and other places of shipment. Said frame may consist of the side bars 1, 1, having the handles 1 These side bars 1, 1 are connected by transverse pieces 2, and in one end of said side bars is supported the axle or shaft 3 provided with wheels 4, 4 which are situated at points outside of the main frame, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. At the lower end of the said truck frame is an elongated horizontal base bar 5 preferably cast integral with said truck frame, or securely attached thereto by suitable means such as bolts. This bar 5 is provided with a series of vertical slots 6 (see Figs. 1, Q and 5) through which operate wedge bars 7 that act to spread apart the members of the pairs of clamps that grip the basic layer of bricks in the manner to be presently explained. Securely fastened to the base bar 5 are vertical side bars 8 that are connected together at their upper ends by means of a horizontal transverse bar 9 to form a main skeleton framework which lies alongside the unit T stack A in the manner shown in Figs. 2 and 6, said skeleton framework being secured to and made a part of the truck frame by means of the upper angular braces 10 and the intermediate braces 11. This general framework may vary within wide limits, and I do not wish to be restricted thereto. I give the present combination simply as a specimen illustration of how it may be made to perform practical service.

Integral with or securely fastened to the base bar 5 is a series of lifting arms or members 12, consisting of rectangular frames having an upper bar 13 and a bottom bar or foot 14. Pairs of side clamping lates 15, 15 are hinged by means of hinges 1 to the top bar 13. These clamping plates are arranged to move horizontally. The detailed construction ofthe lifting and clamping devices is shown in Fig. 4:. These lifting arms 12 are secured or made integral with the horizontal bar 5 at points opposite the vertical slots 6, so that the wedging bars 7 which pass through the slot 6 may enter between the 7 also.

clamping plates just above the foot part 14, as seen in Figs. 2 and 4, and be in a position to act in conjunction with wedges on the hinged side plates 15. The top bars 13 are calculated to rest beneath the second layer' of bricks and by lifting thereon, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6, to raise the superposed mass. Further, these lifting members pass between the individual units of the basic layer, being of proper size to be inserted in the uniform spaces between these members of the basic layer, While the side plates 15 are adapted to be spread laterally for the purpose of gripping or clamping the members of the basic layer by a pinching strain, so that when the superposed mass is lifted by the power eX- erted thereon by the lifting members 12, the simultaneous pinching strain on the bricks of the lower layer caused by the lateral action of the plates 15 will lift the basic row On the inside face of each of the side plates 15, I place a number of wedges 16, preferably three, those on the one plate being inclined oppositely to those on the companion plate, and being placed so that they will interlock as shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 6. The upper portion of the wedge bars 7 are wedgeshaped, having inclined faces, and hence it is obvious that as said bars lift their upper edges will come into contact with the inclined faces of the wedges 16, and the result will be that the plates 15 will be spread apart, swinging on their hinges 17. These plates 15 are preferably thin pieces of sheet metal, and are adapted to spread easily and clamp tightly against the adjacent faces of the bricks. As the wedge bar 7 drops back, the wedge-provided plates 15 likewise drop back into their normal position, which is a vertical one, with the two plates belonging to each lifting member parallel to each other, as shown in Fig. 4.

The wedge bars 7 which constitute the means for spreading apart the two clamping plates belonging to each lifting member are formed with right-angled integral rods 18 that are provided with spiral springs 19 surrounding them. The rods 18 are screwthreaded and furnished with nuts 20 against which one end of each of the spiral springs 19 bears. These rods 18 are mounted in the flanges 21 and 22 of a channel bar 38. A vertically-movable frame consists of the channel bar 38, a head plate 23, the parallel vertical center bars 24 secured to said head 23 and also to the flange 21 of the channel bar 38, and the inclined braces 25 which are bolted to the head piece 23, and also the flange 21 in suitable bearings 31 in the main frame near the stack of bricks, and also in the frame near the truck handles 1 as shown in Fig. 2. By rotating the hand wheel 30, the worm wheel 28 is revolved and the screw 27 fed up or down. hen it is fed upwardly it is obvious that the entire movable frame will be lifted, which will compress the springs 19 and yieldingly raise the stems 18 and the wedges 7 carried by said stems, the result of which movement will be to spread apart the members of the clamping devices. The interposition of the series of springs 19, however, enables the clamping devices to be spread with an elastic effect, which will permit variations in the thickness of the bricks to be compensated for as well as variations in the width of the spaces between the bricks of the basic layer.

Instead of the worm gear and hand wheel operating mechanism for the vertically movable frame and the series of clamping devices, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, I may employ different means for actuating the clamps, and one other specimen of means which may be used for this purpose is illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 where it is seen to consist essentially of an eccentric 32 carried fast on a shaft 33 which is supported in rigid bearings 34, 34 in the main frame. The eccentric 32 works in a slot 35 in the cross piece 36 which forms a part of the vertically movable frame which carries the clamping wedges 7. On the end of the shaft 33 is a lever 37 whereby the shaft 33 is rocked back and forth for the purpose of partially rotating the eccentric 32 in one direction or the other, and thus lifting or lowering the movable frame, thereby clamping or releasing the devices which grip the bricks. Still other forms of actuating mechanism for the movable frame and the clamping wedges may be employed, and I reserve the liberty of employing any suitable mechanism for operating said wedges and clamps.

Many changes in the precise construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts may be made without exceeding the scope of the invention, provided only the legitimate lines of the appended claims are adhered to in such modifications as may be employed in practice.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A portable device for carrying bricks and the like, comprising a locomotive frame, wheels therefor, and a series of lifting arms each provided with apair of clamping plates hinged to opposite sides of the arm, said arms and their clamping plates being adapted to be inserted in the spaces between bricks which have been set in a pre-arranged order.

2. A portable device for transporting bricks and the like, comprising a main frame, wheels or trucks therefor, a series of laterally projecting arms on the main frame Which are adapted to be inserted between adjacent bricks of a layer, and a pair of clamps arranged in connection with each of said arms for gripping the bricks simultaneously with the lifting of the entire mass, together with manually-operated means for actuating the clamping members.

3. A portable device for transporting bricks and the like, comprising a main frame having a truck construction combined therewith, a series of lifting arms on the lower end of the main frame adapted to be inserted between adjacent bricks of a layer, pairs of clamping members arranged in connection with the lifting arms, and a vertically movable frame provided with manually operated means for actuating the clamping members.

4. A portable device for carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having a truck construction combined therewith, a series of lifting arms carried at the lower end of the main frame and adapted to be inserted be tween adjacent bricks of a layer, pairs of clamping members arranged in connection with said arms, vertically movable wedge bars for actuating said clamping members, and means for simultaneously operating said wedge bars.

5. A portable devicefor carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having locomotive mechanism combined therewith, a series of lifting arms carried at the lower end of said main frame, pairs of clamping plates whose members are movably connected to the lifting arms and are adapted to be spread laterally, wedges on the inner faces of said clamping plates, wedge bars adapted to cooperate wlth the aforesaid wedges, a vertically movable frame carrying said wedge bars, and manually operated means for lifting and lowering the movable frame during the clamping and unclamping action.

6. A portable device for carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having. a locomotive mechanism combined therewith, a series of lifting arms rigidly supported on the lower end of said main frame, pairs of clamping plates hinged to said arms and provided on their inner faces with wedges, wedge bars adapted to cooperate with said wedges, a vertically movable frame for supporting said wedge bars, together with a series of springs interposed between the frame and the wedge bars to enable the latter to have an elastic action in order to compensate for inequalities in the thickness of the bricks.

7. A portable device for carrying bricks,

comprising a main frame having locomotive mechanism combined therewith, a series of lifting arms supported on the lower end of said main frame, clamping members hinged to said arms, wedge bars cooperating with wedges on the clamping members, a vertically movable frame and springs interposed between it and said wedge bars so that the latter may have an elastic action, and means for lifting and lowering the movable frame, consisting of a worm gear co1nbination.

8. A portable device for carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having a locomotive mechanism combined therewith, a series of arms projecting from the lower end of said frame in a position at right angles thereto, a clamp arranged in connection with each arm, means for moving said clamp laterally, a vertically movable frame provided with an elastic connection with said clampoperating means, and means operated by hand for moving said latter frame up and down for the purpose of actuating the clamps.

9. A portable device for carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having operating handles and wheels, a series of lifting arms supported at the lower end of said frame and adapted to be inserted between the bricks of a layer, hinged clamping plates on said arms, said plates having wedges on their inner faces, wedge bars operating in connection with said wedges, a vertically movable frame having a channel bar, a series of rods connected to the wedge bars and passing through perforations in the channel bar, a series of springs enveloping said rods, and means for actuating the movable frame, consisting of a worm gear through which passes a screw projecting from the frame together with a worm shaft operating said gear.

10. A portable device for carrying bricks, comprising a main frame having handles for propelling it about and trucks or wheels on which it rolls, a series of lifting arms supported at the lower end of said main frame, pairs of hinged clamping plates on said lifting arms, wedge bars cooperating with wedges 011 said clamping plates, and means for lifting said wedge bars, which means include individual springs for rendering the action of each wedge bar yielding to compensate for inequalities in the thickness of bricks.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RAYMOND C. PENFIELD.

Witnesses:

FRANK PAUL, C. B.-SOHROEDER. 

